A summary of "The Guardian" by Alexey Pekhov Automatic translate

"The Guardian" is a novella in short stories, the first in a series of the same name published in 2010. It chronicles the adventures of Ludwig van Normayenne. This man serves the Brotherhood of Guardians and possesses the rare gift of seeing restless souls. He travels across the lands, slaying aggressive ghosts with a special dark dagger adorned with a glowing sapphire.

The book won the prestigious "Itogi Goda" award from Mir Fantastiki magazine in the "Best Russian Book of 2010" category. The novel begins the popular "Guardian" tetralogy. It is followed by the published works "Auto-da-Fé," "Golden Bonfires," and "The Cursed Forge."

Witch’s Ravine

Ludwig travels with two unusual companions. The first is the chatty soul of a murdered priest named the Preacher. The second is a silent animate object, the Scarecrow, armed with a sharp sickle. Arriving in the town of Vyon, the hero learns of a mass exodus of rats. The local old cemetery near the Chapel of Saint Margaret has become empty. The dead have staged a spontaneous dance of death. The town magistrate asks Ludwig to deal with this unfolding chaos.

Master Alexander of the Order of Righteousness demands Ludwig leave, threatening him with consequences. The guard refuses to comply. He finds the vanished dead in a dense forest, where he encounters aggressive souls that diminish the flesh. A familiar white sorceress, Gertrude, helps Ludwig defeat his enemies. It is revealed that Alexander has inscribed a dark summoning sign on the roof of the central cathedral. He has infused a demon into the enormous bell to kill the visiting Bishop Urban. Ludwig climbs the belfry, and together with a young inquisitor, they stop the catastrophe, saving the townspeople from mass death.

The Key to Paradise

In the city of Trins, Ludwig visits a trading company office. There, he receives a coded order from the Brotherhood of Guardians. He is tasked with finding the local cartographer, Hartwig Nitz. A fellow guard, Karl, shares an important detail: Hartwig survived a lightning strike and gained the gift of cleansing people’s souls of sin. The Church, the Order of Righteousness, and secular rulers have launched a brutal hunt for the cartographer. Ludwig rescues Hartwig from a Hierabite monastery by stunning the guards. He decides to help the young man escape abroad, to the maritime state of Pri.

The Guardian understands the cruel logic of his leaders. The Brotherhood will kill the cartographer to maintain its monopoly on the destruction of dark entities. Along the way, the fugitives are pursued by soldiers of Margrave Valentin the Handsome. An enemy sorcerer kills Ludwig’s horse with a spell. The Guardian manages to repel the attack in the forest and escort Hartwig to the border. Later, Ludwig finds Hartwig dead in the roadside thicket. The Brotherhood overtook the fugitive and carried out a secret execution.

Angel of Death

A deadly epidemic strikes Solesino. Ludwig arrives to aid the local guard, Paul, and his young wife, Rosalinda. The town is in panic, hundreds of corpses lie in the streets, and ships are burning in the port. Ludwig spots a pearlescent soul on the road, devouring a man. Paul and Rosalinda encounter this entity in the cathedral. The creature kills Paul’s mastiff and infects Rosalinda with the disease. Guards are usually completely immune to infections.

The friends understand the cause of the disaster. The creature is the source of the epidemic, having escaped from the collapsed ancient catacombs after the summer earthquake. In the dungeons, the soul attacks from behind and breaks Paul’s spine. Ludwig survives and lures the monster to the old imperial arena. The gypsy Shuko helps Ludwig activate the pre-arranged magical traps. They burn the mother-of-pearl soul with signs. Paul and Rosalind die, but the plague in Solesino immediately ends.

White Witch

Gertrude finds Ludwig in Rüding. She asks him to accompany her to a witch’s ball at Castle Kobneck. The fortress is located in the gloomy Kaiserwald forest. The witch intends to steal the soul of a girl, which holds the secrets of the royal dynasty of Bjürgon. At the ball, Ludwig meets the prophetess Sophia. She advises him to beware of a hanged man at a crossroads, walls of snow, and a light emerging from the darkness. Gertrude steals the crystal pendant containing the soul but is wounded by a trap. The scarecrow steals a flying carriage, carrying the friends away from the castle.

Kobnek’s master, Duke Elias Wojski, dispatches a winged pursuit. Ludwig uses his gift on the Preacher. A magical explosion destroys the pursuers in the sky. Later, at a forest campsite, Janusz, a servant of the Order of Righteousness, attacks. The Scarecrow tears off Janusz’s arm and eats him. The Duke catches up with the fugitives on the road. Gertrude releases the soul of the Baroness, whom the Duke killed, from the second pendant. The ghost takes revenge on its attacker, frightening him to death. Gertrude confesses that she became the Master of the Brotherhood to protect Ludwig from punishment for saving the cartographer. Part of the Scarecrow’s power transfers into an ordinary pumpkin, bringing it to life.

Devil’s Bridge

Ludwig and the guard Wilhelm investigate the death of a young colleague in Derfeld. The man jumped from the Devil’s Bridge into a mountain gorge. The guards join forces with the inquisitor Father Mart and Brother Kurvus. Local legend describes an ancient bargain: a man sold his soul to a demon for the construction of a bridge. The contract expires on the coming new moon. The guards find the Algol symbol on the stones, indicating dark sorcery. Sour milk and blue flames in the houses confirm the presence of evil.

The friends uncover a terrifying truth. Local artist Nels turns out to be a demon conduit. Nels killed a young guard to protect a ritual. That night on the bridge, the demon bursts forth from its human form. The monster easily repels the guards’ attacks, paralyzing their will. Inquisitor Father Mart stops the creature with the power of sincere prayer. He grasps the monster’s head and banishes the demon back to hell. Brother Kurvus finishes off the soulless artist with a consecrated angelic sword.

Claws

In winter, Ludwig travels to Narsdorf. On the snowy road, he fights off bandits with the help of the Scarecrow. In the town of Waltz, a guard meets Joseph, the mentor, with the boy Gerhard. That night, the sorcerer Walter arrives at the inn with a retinue of mercenaries. He forces Ludwig to surrender, threatening to kill Joseph and the child. Ludwig is brought to the fairytale castle of Latka to Margrave Valentin. The Margrave collects the guards’ daggers and holds prisoners in a deep dungeon. In his cell, Ludwig encounters the missing guard Karl. The prison is patrolled by an ocullus. This is the dark soul of the Margrave’s murdered mother, devouring the prisoners.

Ludwig makes a deal with the Ocullus. He promises to bring the Margrave to the basement in exchange for a pass. The guard escapes from his cell using his belt buckle to force entry. He tricks the guards with soot and blood. The guard enters Valentine’s chambers and seriously wounds him in a duel, striking him in the knee. Recovering the stolen daggers from the glass display cases, Ludwig frees Karl and the other prisoners. They escape through ancient underground catacombs. The Ocullus gives chase. Ludwig remains in a narrow tunnel to delay the monster. He lures the Ocullus into Karl’s trap and stabs him with a dagger. Clawed, Ludwig tries to find a way out. The guard crawls toward the pale light but loses consciousness from blood loss. Scarecrow and the Preacher find the dying Ludwig on the road and carry him to a healer.